Phil says console sales don't matter

Link here

Bullet points:

1. Sony is beating MS in the console sales metric
2. Phil says that's not what MS cares about. Instead, what they care about "is how many people are playing and how much they are playing."
3. In the fourth quarter of 2023,Xbox reported record numbers of monthly active users, along with impressive sales, and the quarterly number of hours people were playing via Xbox Game Pass rose by 22%.
4. The emphasis is not placed on the specific platform people play on, but rather on the amount of time gamers spend frolicking in the Xbox ecosystem in general.
5. Phil says Sony also seems to be acknowledging the importance of establishing a gaming ecosystem with Playstation Portal.

So, according to Phil, we should not care about NPD hardware numbers. Thoughts? Is he right, or is this damage control?

Just keep giving me great games and the great consoles. I don't care about their metrics.

Everything Phil says, goes

Even if their Xbox Series X sold one console, I would be happy, because it would be me.

This has been Phil and company's modus operandi for years now and it's paying off bigly. :P

@dabear: The question you have to ask yourself is if Xbox was winning in console sales would Phil be saying this?

We all know the answer to that question.

@SecretPolice: except when they admitted they’re losing the console war and game pass is putting them in the red in the FTC trial.z

well, to be fair, the reason for this pivot was because they lost the console war in the PS4/XB1 generation.. if they could be top dog in console sales, they'd love that since they get a 30% cut of all 3rd party games in their storefront..

but, after the pivot, it's indeed true.. for the nth time, the goal is to have the Xbox ecosystem as easily accessible as possible across consoles, PC, and cloud.. it doesn't matter which device (or devices) you prefer.. all that matters is that you are engaging with Xbox content..

@sheevpalpamemes:

Noperz, they haven't been too concerned about the console "Battle" for years now the proof being that all the Xbox games launching day-one on PC.

They have however been focused on winning the "War". :P

Xbox One (xbox won)

@R4gn4r0k:

lol...

:P

IDK - he's been pretty consistent over the past few years on this message.

Phil is literally everywhere at Gamescom:

He's at the Xbox booth, he's at the show receiving awards, he's helping handicapped people play more games, ...

Meanwhile Jim Ryan is nowhere to be seen. Probably still on his plane sulking after flying around the world crying.

What ultimately matters are if money is being made and how much is being made.

And yet Xbox hasn't been winning console sales wise since the 360. If he was saying to gens ago you might be onto something. He's just doing his usual PR spin.

He's damage controlling. If hardware sales didn't matter, SEGA would still be in the race.

Another day of "Phil says", more news at 10.

Well that's just, like, his opinion man :P.

Seriously though, internally at MS, Gamepass subs are the most important metric for Xbox. This has been clear for ages. They are trying to get the Netflix business model to work for them basically. The main reason they have a console at all is that anyone can always have an in to Gamepass. They are not at the mercy of other hardware vendors.

Potentially it's big money. 200 million people paying 20 bucks a month...that's a lot of moolah if they can get it to work.

Sony and Nintendo are still on the traditional road (Sony are looking for a middle ground though). Game sales matter most, that's where the money is and hardware sales tie into that. They are also working on online services and building online revenue (Sony a lot more so) but Hardware and service sales are secondary to Game sales. The main reason to have the hardware at all is to be able to control the platform (also Nintendo do sell their consoles at a profit).

Which will win out? Very hard to say.

As for the SW meta game (if that's still a thing). We would need to measure success by division profit rather than game sales and hardware sales. Depending on how that's reported..that can be very hard to track.

I cant wait to play the PS exclusive °Console Sales°,the one cows always rave about 🎮

You can just smell how much Microsoft want to dump the Xbox and go fully digital on PC.

It doesn't need to outsell Nintendo or, PlayStation but, it still needs to reach a decent base to maintain GamePass subscribers and, revenue from accessories, third party rev share etc.

And yes, engagement across the "ecosystem" is massively important for PlayStation as well. It's the whole reason why they bought Bungie, are investing in live service + mobile games and, are releasing games on PC. The biggest difference is that the PlayStation console business is absolutely huge; they make more money on PS4+PS5 than Xbox does across *everything*. Like serious, Xbox's revenue will be barely larger than PlayStation's even after buying ABK.

Of course it’s damage control. Because when Xbox does well in sales, Phil and Co are the first ones to tell you about it.

The majority of those bullet points don’t equate to money being made. And if they really wanted to drive those bullet points, they’d just give their games away for free…

Phil has given consumers more access to the Xbox library than ever. Phil has added more games to the Xbox library than ever. Yet the competitors growth continues to outpace Xbox’s growth. In fact Phil is talking saturation at a time the other two consoles are breaking industry records… But hey…#value

Game Pass is confirmed profitable. In fact, VERY VERY profitable. Great news for gamers around the world.

And giving me head.

ROFL we do so poorly it seems like a joke, so lets pretend it doesn't matter. Reminds me of our sheep that pretend like performance in games isn't important cuz they're playing in 19fps and visuals from 2004.🤭

@kvallyx: Even if it is profitable, I wonder how much money they lose on lost game sales. Like Starfield would easily sell a ton of copies at $70 or more. No clue how many people aren't buying it, but instead paying the $10/month to play it. That $70 should all go to MS, whereas the $10 has to be divided to devs on gamepass(however that whole system works). I'm sure they have it figured out, but just saying a service is profitable doesn't mean it couldn't be even more profitable with a standard approach like Nintendo is doing or Sony(which is more of a hybrid model... Subscriptions and game sales).

Nobody cares. MS is making record game revenue and record subscription revenue, and the Xbox division (and Game Pass) is profitable.

As for Starfield, more than likely most people will be buying it. Only 10-15% of people have Game Pass.

Nobody (gamers) care if a company makes billions or trillions in profit. Gamers care more about value and saving money.

Phil idiot said this :

Phil Spencer Says Console Is 'Critical' to Future of Xbox

Xbox console is the MAIN DRIVER for game sales on it. Xbox console is the MAIN DRIVER for Gamepass subs. Claiming otherwise is delusional at least

@kvallyx said:

@R4gn4r0k said:

PJim Ryan is nowhere to be seen. Probably still on his plane sulking after flying around the world crying.

And giving me head.

If you get off on a 55- year old man crying then I'm not gonna judge you for that man.

We have heard this all before from Phil Spencer. We know ms only cares about getting the games everywhere. If they could release on ps5 they would without a doubt.

@loudheadphones said:

@dabear said:

Link here

Bullet points:

1. Sony is beating MS in the console sales metric
2. Phil says that's not what MS cares about. Instead, what they care about "is how many people are playing and how much they are playing."
3. In the fourth quarter of 2023,Xbox reported record numbers of monthly active users, along with impressive sales, and the quarterly number of hours people were playing via Xbox Game Pass rose by 22%.
4. The emphasis is not placed on the specific platform people play on, but rather on the amount of time gamers spend frolicking in the Xbox ecosystem in general.
5. Phil says Sony also seems to be acknowledging the importance of establishing a gaming ecosystem with Playstation Portal.

So, according to Phil, we should not care about NPD hardware numbers. Thoughts? Is he right, or is this damage control?

@R4gn4r0k said:

Everything Phil says, goes

Even if their Xbox Series X sold one console, I would be happy, because it would be me.

Phil idiot said this :

Phil Spencer Says Console Is 'Critical' to Future of Xbox

Xbox console is the MAIN DRIVER for game sales on it. Xbox console is the MAIN DRIVER for Gamepass subs. Claiming otherwise is delusional at least

He doesn't say "main driver" he said it's a critical component. Big difference. Consoles are a key to Xbox success, but they're not the only key.

If MS thought the way you do, they would still have "xbox exclusive" games that weren't also on PC and in the cloud - that doesn't exist.

Just an idiot, I'm sure if they ever had a console that sold 100 million units they would change their nebo. The best console they had sale wise is the 360 and that had like a 15% failure rate in the beginning that they ate money on.

as a matter of fact they already release games on PS5 to include the Minecraft IP, updates to GaaS titles like Elder Scrolls Online/Fallout 76, and (eventually) Call of Duty..

and you're right, this isn't news to anyone who's been paying attention.. but (for some reason) everytime he reiterates this point, the same people crawl out from under a rock and act surprised/"concerned"..

You think Gamepass is putting Microsoft, a TWO TRILLION dollar company... "In the red"? :-S

And I'm pretty sure they said cloud gaming was losing them money, not Gamepass.

What Phil means is "I don't care about the Series X owners , I only care about the Series broke gamer S owners. Lol at all those idiots who bought a series X, thanks for the extra cash suckas"

See ya next gen when we introduce THREE different models with the lowest spec model being our priority system. Gotta have that parity!

@dabear said:

@loudheadphones said:

@dabear said:

Link here

Bullet points:

1. Sony is beating MS in the console sales metric
2. Phil says that's not what MS cares about. Instead, what they care about "is how many people are playing and how much they are playing."
3. In the fourth quarter of 2023,Xbox reported record numbers of monthly active users, along with impressive sales, and the quarterly number of hours people were playing via Xbox Game Pass rose by 22%.
4. The emphasis is not placed on the specific platform people play on, but rather on the amount of time gamers spend frolicking in the Xbox ecosystem in general.
5. Phil says Sony also seems to be acknowledging the importance of establishing a gaming ecosystem with Playstation Portal.

So, according to Phil, we should not care about NPD hardware numbers. Thoughts? Is he right, or is this damage control?

@R4gn4r0k said:

Everything Phil says, goes

Even if their Xbox Series X sold one console, I would be happy, because it would be me.

Phil idiot said this :

Phil Spencer Says Console Is 'Critical' to Future of Xbox

Xbox console is the MAIN DRIVER for game sales on it. Xbox console is the MAIN DRIVER for Gamepass subs. Claiming otherwise is delusional at least

He doesn't say "main driver" he said it's a critical component. Big difference. Consoles are a key to Xbox success, but they're not the only key.

If MS thought the way you do, they would still have "xbox exclusive" games that weren't also on PC and in the cloud - that doesn't exist.

Critical IS the main one. Critical means IT IS a KEY. Gamepass without Xbox consoles would be DEAD. It wouldn't survive on PC alone. Also, Gamepass on Android is deadier than dead

@loudheadphones said:

@dabear said:

@loudheadphones said:

@dabear said:

Link here

Bullet points:

1. Sony is beating MS in the console sales metric
2. Phil says that's not what MS cares about. Instead, what they care about "is how many people are playing and how much they are playing."
3. In the fourth quarter of 2023,Xbox reported record numbers of monthly active users, along with impressive sales, and the quarterly number of hours people were playing via Xbox Game Pass rose by 22%.
4. The emphasis is not placed on the specific platform people play on, but rather on the amount of time gamers spend frolicking in the Xbox ecosystem in general.
5. Phil says Sony also seems to be acknowledging the importance of establishing a gaming ecosystem with Playstation Portal.

So, according to Phil, we should not care about NPD hardware numbers. Thoughts? Is he right, or is this damage control?

@R4gn4r0k said:

Everything Phil says, goes

Even if their Xbox Series X sold one console, I would be happy, because it would be me.

Phil idiot said this :

Phil Spencer Says Console Is 'Critical' to Future of Xbox

Xbox console is the MAIN DRIVER for game sales on it. Xbox console is the MAIN DRIVER for Gamepass subs. Claiming otherwise is delusional at least

He doesn't say "main driver" he said it's a critical component. Big difference. Consoles are a key to Xbox success, but they're not the only key.

If MS thought the way you do, they would still have "xbox exclusive" games that weren't also on PC and in the cloud - that doesn't exist.

Critical IS the main one. Critical means IT IS a KEY. Gamepass without Xbox consoles would be DEAD. It wouldn't survive on PC alone. Also, Gamepass on Android is deadier than dead

An alternator is critical to a running ICE, but so is a cylinder.

Not the same.

And yet he also said "We wanted to make sure we had a sub-$300 console (Series S) because we want to grow". The guys a bit of a hypocrite tbh.

@HalcyonScarlet: They’re gaming division is losing money, which means it’s in the red.

@kvallyx: According to the FTC trial, gamepass is in the red.

YUP he is crying sony is winning.

please make sense.

if xbox was winning phil be on his yacht.

you mean see you next gen were sony fans are paying for gamepass on ps6 for xbox first party games.

Xbox will be right there with the Zune and MS phones in Hardware flops

@dabear: You understand the Alternator is more critical piece right? If that goes out the car will not be able to run once the battery dies

Nope

😁Nothing matters when you fail at it😁

😁😁😁

Words of a man that is very used to getting his ass handed to him.

Of course it doesn't matter. I mean Gamescom had to give him an award just because he can't win one. Sony and Nintendo are the two that are actually competing.

Winning what? The fanboy wars in your head?

Everything Xbox and Sony is right here on PC, so from my pov, he's right.

Might get a Switch someday, mind. TOTK looks neatO.

In other news, water is wet.

lol Seriously, Phil has been saying this for a long time now.